The broken windows of the former Crosley Radio Corp. headquarters in Camp Washington currently stand as a metaphor for the broken dreams for the building’s future.

Indianapolis-based Core Redevelopment, owners of the Crosley building, is not moving forward with the $45 million project to restore the building to house 238 market-rate apartments, according to Joe Gorman, executive director of the Camp Washington Business Association.

“We’re extremely disappointed and we spent a lot of time on this project. So, we’re just trying to drop back and punt right now,” he said.

The Crosley building dates back to the late 1920s. Renowned Cincinnati architecture firm Samuel Hannaford & Sons designed the building. The building initially served as headquarters for the Crosley Radio Corp and its radio station, WLW. Offices for the entrepreneur and inventor Powel Crosley were on the building's top floors.

Core purchased the building about two years ago but planning for the rehab project started about two years earlier, according to Core partner Eric Seal. The market remains strong for this type of development in Cincinnati, he said, but timing and construction costs are conspiring against completing the project. Changes in state tax credits also placed pressure on Core.

The property was listed for sale Monday with CBRE, Seal said. Some people are in the business of buying buildings and waiting to either resell or rehab, he said. That's not Core's style. When Core buys, it's with plans of getting something done.

"We've decided we can't get this done at this time," he said.

The decision was made to see if someone else wants to "take a stab at it," Seal said.

In Cincinnati, Core Redevelopment has rehabbed two buildings: Alumni Lofts, the former School for Creative and Performing Arts in Over-The-Rhine; and Windsor Flats, the former multi-storied schoolhouse in historic Walnut Hills.

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This vacant Arlington Street building was the site of Crosley Radio Corp. and radio station WLW. An Indianapolis-based company wants to redevelop the property to house 238 market-rate apartments.
(Photo:
Enquirer file
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Rehab plans for the Crosley building were first announced in 2014 and enthusiastically embraced by the Camp Washington Community Council. In 2016 Core Redevelopment secured $5 million in state historic preservation tax credits.

Gorman said he’s hopeful the Crosley building will eventually be rehabbed and be another success story for the Camp Washington area.

“There are a lot of good things happening,” he said.

Powel Crosley Jr. in the Camp Washington factory/studio of radio station WLW.(Photo: Crosley Radio & Furniture photo)

Camp Washington is benefiting from places like the Rhinegest building on Spring Grove Avenue, a new art gallery and other businesses. There’s also a “good injection” of artists and the two-acre urban farm, Gorman added.